COMMON GROUND

Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros Soundtrack isn't the kind of book usually reviewed in this magazine. Furthermore, M&V readers are likely to think that they would be more interested in its author, Andrew Schartmann, than in the subject of his book. If you read us regularly, you're probably familiar with his writing, as an occasional CD reviewer and writer of the regular series Andrew Schartmann's Musical Tidbits which ran here throughout 2013. He is also assistant editor of DSCH Journal, and has written at least one other book, but he's mainly a pianist, composer and music theorist — someone able not only to perform and create music, but also to successfully question and challenge the work of other composers and performers, and to write about this process in an accessible and understandable way...